HONESTY (OR NOT) IN AMERICA
In the book, The Day America Told the Truth, of the people surveyed, the authors found these results –
91 percent of American lie about trivial matters;
36 percent of Americans lie about important matters;
86 percent regularly lie to parents,
75 percent regularly lie to friends,
73 percent regularly lie to siblings, and
69 percent regularly lie to spouses.
Here’s what was intriguing about the study: People no longer seem to care about lying. We accept it. It doesn’t bother us. We don’t get upset anymore when someone exaggerates, falsifies, fabricates, or misrepresents the truth. We live in a day when we’ve been bombarded with erased tapes, tampered evidence, loophole lies, illicit cover-ups, padded resumes, and exaggerated ads, to the point that we’ve pretty much given up on truth ever being told.
Of course we have many different ways of speaking about lies. We call them White lies, Bold-face lies, Flattery, Slander,
Gossip, Excuses, Propaganda, Spin, Exaggeration, Half-truth, Saving face, Falsehoods, Shading the truth, Perjury, Misrepresenting the truth, False advertising, Embellishment.
(Source: Daily Bread, 8/28/1992. From a sermon by Michael Deutsch, "Liar! Liar!" 7/6/2009)